Chapter 45: Finding Nico Part 2

Isaiah and Bianca ran forward leaving Percy, Annabeth and Rachel behind since they had different goals. Isaiah grinned as he continued to make his way in the hallways of the Labyrinth. He could somehow also feel the traps and monsters in the distance so the duo were easily making their way without any problems.

A fact that they have discovered is that Bianca can partially control the walls, as well as her senses, become enhanced underground. There was also the fact that everything was dark so her darkness-related powers became even stronger. Isaiah chalked it up to her being the daughter of Hades. She could therefore sense what was going on at a certain distance, but she didn't have the same navigation skills as him.

"How long, Isaiah?" Bianca asked as they walked.

"I don't know yet." the boy said as he kept his eyes on the glowing trail.

"Just what is going on?" Bianca asked, "Nico looked so normal when I was with him. What did Minos do to him?"

Isaiah shook his head,

"I don't know, but, just like Teacher said, there must be some sort of link between our ghost and Daedalus as well as this Maze," he replied.

"*Sigh* I just hope nothing happens to him. There is also the Titan's army roaming around here and we could get caught."

"If he gets caught. We'll just bust him out of their clutches." Isaiah grinned.

Bianca, seeing the boy's optimism, smiled. And so, they continued to turn left and right, and up and down all the while avoiding traps. With two superhumans with sensory abilities, it was hardly a challenge to avoid traps. At one point, Isaiah felt as if the Labyrinth was purposely moving the walls and corridors just to kill them. He felt the familiar brushing feeling when it tried to read his mind. Fortunately, he had created a mental defence after learning telepathy at Kamar-Taj. He didn't know about Bianca though.

Suddenly, he felt something and stopped making Bianca almost bump into him.

"What's going on, Isaiah?"

"Do you not feel it?" he asked.

Right now, the two were standing in a dark corridor with no crossroads. Bianca closed her eyes and extended her senses through the darkness.

"Monsters."

Isaiah nodded,

"Yeah. And they seem too organized to be ordinary ones," he said as he channelled his mana to his hands ready to kill.

Isaiah felt their approach. It seems like they too sensed something. Since the golden trail leads them towards monsters it means that he and Bianca will have to kill them. Isaiah closed his eyes and tried to extend his senses. In the Labyrinth, where the Mist was exceptionally more present compared to the surface, he could extend his senses to feel his surrounding like a radar. Right now, he was sensing multiple monsters.

"I can feel around 10 monsters. 6 Dracaenae and 4 Canadians at about 70 feet."

Isaiah didn't think he heard her right. He turned to her,

"Canadians?"

"Oh. I meant Laistrygonian Giants." Bianca said sheepishly, "Most of us call them Canadian because they come from up north such as Canada."

"Oh. Well, let's kill them and get moving. I'll go first." Isaiah replied and Bianca nodded.

Isaiah raised his right hand and formed a finger gun towards where he felt the monsters, that were getting increasingly closer, and mentally called his spell.

'Gandr'

Red arcane energy bubbled up in front of his index as he waited for the monsters to show themselves. As soon as they made their appearance, Isaiah shot his arcane bullet while adding more mana than usual. It shot forward just like a bullet and pierced a hole through one of the dracaenas

"SKREEEEH" the female monsters shouted as she disintegrated.

"Oh, bullseye." the boy said.

"Now's not the time Isaiah!" Bianca said as she summoned two dark daggers.

The monsters were confused. They looked at the dust of their dead companions before looking at the two pre-teens.

"IT WAS THEM!" One of the Giants shouted.

The monsters roared and shot toward the two kids.

Bianca shipped her hand to the left and a segment of the wall slammed forward effectively crushing another dracaena by surprise. The grants swung their clubs and destroyed the wall and ran toward their enemies.

'Reinforcement'

Isaiah took off his glasses and the world shattered as multiple crimson lines appeared on everything. He quickly dashed head-on towards the incoming monsters.

"Die! " one of the giants shouted.

"I already did once. I don't feel like doing it again." Isaiah replied. He ducked underneath the club of the first monsters and stabbed a dagger made of Bronze Celestial that he had projected into a Line Of Death. Without a noise, the monster exploded into dust. Isaiah didn't miss a beat as he caught the knife with his telekinesis and named it to its fellow giant.

Bianca shadow-jumped behind one of the serpent ladies and decapitated her. Unfortunately, they quickly recovered from the ambush and tried to counter-attack. The other three dracaenas flexed their claws and tried to slash Bianca, but the girl had already sunk into another shadow and reappeared a small distance away.

'Seems like she has once again improved.' thought Isaiah as he killed the third giant.

"My brothers!" the last giant yelled.

He turned to Isaiah who produced another dagger,

"W-What are you? You don't smell like a god's spawn."

Isaiah tilted his head and gave a closed-eye smile,

"Me? I'm just a normal human," he said before launching his dagger into the monster's forehead. However, the strength was too much and blew the head up instead.

Isaiah turned to where Bianca was fighting and saw that she was engaging three dracanae by herself and was having quite a difficult time. He quickly projected two knives and blitzed toward them before slashing the lines of Death of two of the monsters. Due to the homicidal urge his Mystic Eyes were giving him, he had to force himself not to kill the last dracaena and simply trapped her using a barrier.

"Have you seen an eleven years old boy with black hair and olive asking tone? Talks about Mythomagic a lot?"

"SCREEEK! Lord Kronosssssss will kill you all!" the snake lady snarled as she started trashing at the barrier.

Not a single scratch was made. Isaiah repeated the question, but it seems like the monster either didn't know the answer or had no intention of telling it.

"Oh well. Seems like you're not going to answer. Goodbye." the boy told the monster and deactivated the barrier.

The latter was stunned for a moment when she saw the barrier disappear but quickly tried to slash her claws at Isaiah. Unfortunately for her, Isaiah was faster. He quickly cut off her head and put his glasses back on as she soon turned into dust just like her companions.

"Looks like we're going to continue following the trail," Isaiah told Bianca.

"Most likely. But I'm pretty sure we've stumbled upon the Titan's army," she said

"You're probably right."

"Is there a way to avoid them?"

"I don't know since we have to follow the trail."

"*Sigh* Fine."

*Rumble*

Both teams felt their stomachs protest in hunger. Isaiah let out a smile and brought out two chocolate bars from his ring.

"Here," he said as he gave the girl one.

"Thanks, Isaiah."

"You're welcome!"

They ate the chocolate bar and continued to walk.

About an hour later, the duo noticed the walls change into a tunnel. The duo could also make out some sounds at the end of it as well as some light. As they got closer, the sound grew louder.

"A crowd?" Bianca asked.

"Most likely. Wait a sec, Bianca."

Bianca stopped in her tracks and turned to the boy

"Hm? What's wrong?"

Isaiah closed his eyes and stood still.

"Isaiah?"

He then opened his eyes and flicked his wrist and called upon his Eldritch Magic. He pulled Bianca close to him eliciting a yelp from her. Orange and gold energy arced around them before forming a one-meter radius dome around them. The sorcerer then snapped his finger. However, this time there doesn't seem to be any change.

"Isaiah? W-What are you doing? We'll get spotted if we go like this!" Bianca whispered with a slight stutter due to how close she was to him.

"Don't worry. Watch."

The boy projected a large mirror outside of the some and telekinetically held it afloat in front of them. It was then Bianca noticed the problem.

"Wait? Where are we?" she asked as she couldn't see her and Isaiah in the mirror.

She could only see the dark tunnel they were currently in.

"Tada! Invisibility acquired!" Isaiah boasted.

"Woah!" Bianca let out as she tried to find herself in the mirror.

"Have you ever seen a magic show where a person goes under a clothed table, but when the magician removes the cloth, the person beneath the table disappeared?"

Bianca shook her head,

"I've heard about it, but I've never been to one."

"Well, the secret to this magic trick mirrors."

"Mirrors?"

"Yeah. By placing the mirrors at a certain angle right between the legs of the table, the magician uses the reflection of the background shown by the mirrors to create an illusion of invisibility. I did the same using actual magic. By using the illusion branch of the Eldritch Magic, I recreated the magic trick."

"So you did a magic trick using magic?"

"Yeah."

"You bring shame to those magicians."

"Hey." Isaiah deadpanned.

Bianca smiled,

"Just kidding."

Isaiah shook his head and looked towards the exit.

"Let's go and rescue Nico. I think he's close."

Bianca forgot all about their proximity and perked up,

"You can feel him?"

However, Isaiah denied,

"I don't, but the trail has been getting brighter a little while ago."

"Then come on!" Bianca said and was about to move forward when Isaiah grabbed her hand and pulled her back once more before she could pass the dome.

"What are you doing? You have to stay close. This spell is not perfect since it doesn't hide sound and smell. If there are monsters, they may sniff in our direction due to your divinity. Although, I can probably do something about that." Isaiah said.

The girl quickly nodded and stuck close to the boy as they made their way to the light. As soon as they crossed the entrance, they were hit by the loud noises of a crowd roaring. The duo had to blink their eyes to adjust to the light. It was then they looked at their surroundings. They found themselves at the top of the stands overlooking a large arena. The stands were full of monsters as well as people roaring and cheering as they looked at the arena. Isaiah could feel all sorts of energies emanating from almost every living thing here indicating their supernatural presence. He looked at the source of the crowd's noise and saw two monsters, one was a cyclops and the other one was a laistrygonian giant, tearing each other apart. It reminded Isaiah of the gladiators from ancient times. He could see many skulls, probably from those who have died here, decorating the arena. Looking up, Isaiah could see a large banner depicting a trident. The boy had seen this particular trident. It was Poseidon's. And right above it, in his seat, was a familiar face.

"Luke?" Isaiah asked.

Bianca looked toward where the boy was pointing and paled when she saw the son of Hermes. The latter seemed to be talking to a giant who seemed to be over six meters tall and covered in tattoos and wearing only a loincloth

"That's him! What's he doing here!?" she whispered as she glared at Luke.

"No clue. But I'm not going to wait and find out." the boy replied as he looked to where the trail was leading.

At the moment, the golden rail was glowing brightly as if their destination was close by it led to one of the multiple pairs of doors in the arena.

Suddenly, a monster in front of them, a cyclops froze and began to sniff around. Both pre-teens tensed at the sudden development. The cyclops turned around and looked directly in their direction. Isaiah activated his magic circuits and cast (Telepathy) on the cyclops.

'Meat?... New Meat? No... new Demigod?'

Isaiah quickly left suggestions in his mind to turn back and enjoy the show in front of him.

The cyclops stopped sniffing around, shook his head and continued to cheer at the brutal battle. Suddenly, the crowd roared and cheered when the giant nailed his club directly into the cyclops' eye and knocked him down. Seeing the latter now blind and almost incapacitated, the crowd began to chant.

"DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!"

Isaiah noticed the standing giant as well as the majority of the crowd looking at the giant beside Luke. It seems like that monster is the leader. The latter brought his thumb up before pointing it downwards. The crowd cheered so loudly, that Isaiah and Bianca could feel the vibration of the arena itself. The giant in the arena nodded and grinned before brutally bashing its club on the cyclops head as the latter tried to pleas. Finally, after a final hit, the cyclops turned into dust indicating the end of his life for now.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The crowd shouted as they saw someone die at the hand of another.

"Oh, gods," Bianca whispered at the sight of the brutal kill.

It was then the giant beside Luke laughed.

"GOOD! GOOD! This is amusing Luke Castellan! Let's have more and have a more entertaining fight. I want something new!"

Luke grinned,

"Very well, Antaeus. WE have recently captured someone that might interest you."

"Oh? What can you show me, son of Hermes?"

Luke's lips twitched, but he kept his cool.

"What about... a son of Hades?"

Bianca's breath hitched and Isaiah's eyes narrowed.

"Interesting. Yes! Bring him in!"

The golden trail pulsed and glowed even brighter as the pairs from where Nico is opened. Suddenly, the boy himself was pushed outside and the crowd cheered. Bianca covered her mouth when she saw her brother's state. Some parts of his clothes have been torn. Isaiah could see tear marks on his cheeks as well as some bruises on his face.

"N...N-Hmmmph!" Bianca was about to scream her brother's name when Isaiah quickly covered the girl's mouth.

"One sec, Bianca! We don't want to reveal our location!" the boy whispered.

"Hmmmmph!"

"I know, And I'll get him out of there, but you need to go back into the tunnel. Can you do that?" Isaiah asked with his hands still on the girl's mouth.

Bianca slowly nodded and Isaiah took his hand off.

"Why can't I help you?"

"Do you think you can get through all this?" Isaiah asked as he pointed at the crowd.

Bianca cringed,

"No. And you can?"

"Yeah!" Isaiah replied with a grin.

He pointed to himself,

"I'm a lot stronger than you think, Bianca. I was even personally trained by the Sorcerer Supreme." the boy boasted.

Bianca looked down and balled her fist as she was angry at her own weakness.

"Fine! You better be safe!" the girl said and quickly ran to the tunnel they originally came from.

After making sure no one saw her, Isaiah turned his gaze back to where Nico shakily stood up.

"Welcome, son of Hades! My name is Anteus, son of Poseidon! Choose your weapon and fight for your life or wait for your death!"

Nico looked around scared.

'Seems like Minos is not with him. Did he lead Nico here or did he leave him?"

"A-A sword!" Nico shouted and a Celestial Bronze xiphos appeared on the floor. The eleven-year-old nervously picked it up and awkwardly held it.

Isaiah could immediately see the boy had some training, but there was too much fear and nervousness to make that training effective.

Suddenly, a gate opened and a centaur came out of it with a sword and shield looking determined. However, Isaiah caught him wincing for a brief moment when he saw Nico.

"Alright. Time to go." Isaiah said and started to make his way to Nico.

***

Nico was scared. No, he was downright terrified. He shouldn't have listened to Minos. He shouldn't have summoned him. He should have banished him after the first time he talked to him. He remembered the day he had first summoned King Minos.

(Flashback)

"So how should I do this? Chiron told me that, back in the days, when children of Hades were not taboo, they would offer a sacrificial feast to the dead and summon their ghost." Nico said out loud.

Right now, he was alone in a secluded part of the forest. He had some skeletons dig a hole in the ground.

"Alright, So do I just dump all this food in there?" he asked himself.

He had saved some food served during lunch. Picking it up, he dumped it all in the hole.

"Now what?" the boy thought as he gazed at the mess he created.

"Huh, I huuuuh offer the dead this food? Let... them have huh a taste of the living again?" He hesitated as he tried to say out loud the nonsense he had invented on the spot.

At first, nothing happened.

"Well, that was a bust." the boy said dejectedly,

But as soon as the words left his mouth, he sensed something pulled at the pit of his stomach. He felt his strength leave as it was replaced by fatigue. The mess of food and drinks he had created began to bubble as it transformed into a bubbling red liquid.

"W-What's going on!" he exclaimed.

Soon he was assaulted by a headache as whispers began to be heard in the forest. As the whispers grew louder and louder, Nico tried to stop them by pressing his hands to his ears, unfortunately, the whispers were inside his head.

"... stop... Stop-STOP!" the boy shouted and the voices stopped except for one.

The whisper began to grow clearer as something appeared from beneath the ground. A translucent humanoid being without any features was kneeling where the liquid was. It cupped the liquid with its hands and brought it to where its mouth was. Isaiah then saw the features beginning to become clear after each handful of liquid when finally, the being had transformed into the ghost of a man hovering about the ground. A short man with a long white beard. The old man was completely white as well as glowing slightly and he sported a crown.

"We finally meet, son of Hades." the man said with a bow.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Minos. King Minos. I was once the king of Crete, but I am now one of the judges of the Dead personally appointed by Lord Hades."

"My dad?"

"That is right, my lord. And it is my pleasure to finally meet you. May I ask why you have summoned me?"

Nico rubbed his arm,

"Honestly. I just heard from Chiron that children of Hades could summon ghosts and stuff. So I wanted to try it."

Minos stroked his long beard,

"I see. Then would you like me to teach you? To unlock your full potential?"

Nico perked up,

"Really?"

"It would be my honour to teach you, my lord."

Nico,

"Yes!"

"Very well. Let us begin." the ghost said as he let out a malicious grin unknown to the child.

Over the months, Nico would summon Minos. The ghost would teach him about his powers. However, when Quintus was introduced to the camp, the ghost disappeared. Even if Nico tried to summon him, he didn't respond. It was only when Quintus disappeared that the ghost reappeared. This. time had told Nico that he had to save Percy and his friends from incoming danger and that only he could do it. He didn't know why? Maybe because he wanted to go on a quest himself? Maybe he didn't want to be left behind while others get the chance to fight? He didn't know. What he did know was that he wanted to go into the Maze and save his friends.

So when he got the chance to guard the entrance of the Labyrinth, it was the perfect opportunity. When he and his sister were guarding the entrance, he acted out his curiosity, which wasn't hard, and "accidentally" touched the key of the entrance and "accidentally" fell into the Labyrinth. Minos then appeared and told him that he would guide the boy since he knows it very well because it was made for him.

They continued to make their way when, suddenly, he was confronted by monsters out of nowhere. He tried to fight but was quickly beaten and chained. He tried to fight back, to scream and shout, but nothing was effective. Finally, one of the monsters couldn't take his protest and knocked him unconscious.

The next time he woke up, he was greeted by the malicious grin of a woman,

"Oh. You're awake. Glad to have you back son of Hades."

Nico looked around and saw only a cold and dark room.

"W-Where are we?"

"Ah. Ah. Ah. You don't get to ask questions half-blood. Only us."

"Us?"

Suddenly, the door of the room opened and in walked two people. Well, one ghost and a person.

"Minos!" the boy said in relief.

However, to his shock, Minos sneered at the boy and turned to the person next to him,

"I have brought him just like I promised. Now you keep yours."

The person nodded and grinned,

"Yes. We will help you in your revenge against Daedalus." Luke said.

Nico looked confused,

"Luke? Minos, what's going on?" the boy asked.

It was the woman who answered,

"What's going on little boy it is that you have been betrayed! How does it feel to be betrayed by someone you trusted? Tell me! Despair, sorrow, tell me!" the woman said as she began to giggle.

"Kelli." Luke simply called her.

"Pou. You're no fun, Luke." Kelli pouted.

Nico wasn't listening to them as he looked at Minos.

"Minos? Please tell me they're wrong? Please." Nico asked as he desperately tried to keep his tears from running down his cheeks.

Minos then let out a wicked grin.

"Hehehehehe! I'm sorry my lord, but they are right. I was never your friend!" the ghost cackled as he mockingly called Nico "my lord".

"Ever since I have been summoned by the son of Hades. I saw an opportunity. I saw a naive child right in front of me that I could use for my own gain, my revenge against that son of a bitch!" the former king snarled.

"I befriended you until you grew to trust me. But I was caught off guard when the one named Quintus or more commonly known by Daedalus, arrived at that bloody camp. I had to hide to not get caught by him as I planned my revenge. It was so easy to trick you. The boy ly wanted to help his friends. The boy who wanted to gain fame by completing quests. I just had to lure you to Titan's army. You were so naive, boy!" Minos explained with an air of mockery.

Nico wasn't listening anymore, he had shut down as his eyes became hollow from the betrayal. Ever since he remembered, he had trouble making friends. Even at camp, people would avoid him and Bianca due to them being the children of Hades. So when he got a ghost friend, he was extremely excited.

Like watched as Nico became catatonic.

"Hmph. He'll make a good sacrifice for Anteus." the son of Hermes simply said as he walked out of the room followed by Kelli and Minos leaving the boy alone once again in the cold and dark room.

(Flashback end)

Now here he was holding a sword ready to fight to death simply for the amusement of others. All because he had trusted a ghost whom he thought was a friend. He even saw Minos grinning in the stands alongside Luke and Anteus the giant. He saw the centaur ready his weapons. Nico raised that he was given. He attended weapon training almost every day at the camp so he had a semblance of experience on how to wield a sword.

he heard the loud cheers of the crowd as he was visibly trembling with fright.

He then heard Anteus,

"Fighters! Ready!?"

Both fighters tensed as they were about to start.

"Fi-" "S'cuse me! Coming Through!"

Anteus was about to give the signal when he was interrupted by a voice. Everyone turned to the source and saw a boy walking down the stairs of the stand before jumping into the arena.

"Who are you to interrupt me!?" Anteus snarled.

Nico looked at the source of the commotion and widened his eyes in shock.

Luke stood up in surprise,

"You!"

The boy, Isaiah Sharpe, looked back at the demigod traitor and grinned mischievously,

"Me."